Google Wallet is about to let people in the UK turn a passport into a digital pass on any compatible Android phone. Alan Stapelberg, the Product Manager in charge of the app, wrote on a blog post, “Residents of the United Kingdom will soon be able to create digital ID passes with their U.K. passports and securely and conveniently store them in Google Wallet.”
To make the feature useful from day one, Google has teamed up with Rail Delivery Group. Railcard buyers normally upload photos of paper documents when applying for discounts, but the new system will let passengers tap a phone to prove who they are and, where needed, how old they are.
Google says it is talking to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology about the Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework. Certification under that scheme would let shoppers show the passport pass when buying age restricted goods such as beer. Google Wallet, meanwhile, will arrive in fifty more countries that do not yet have tap to pay, giving millions of people a single place to store tickets and passes.
What Changes Are Coming To Travellers In The United States?
Four more US territories: Arkansas, Montana, Puerto Rico and West Virginia will soon let residents add state-issued digital IDs to Google Wallet. That takes the total number of supporting jurisdictions to 8.
Arizona, Georgia, Maryland and New Mexico will take this a step further… Residents there will soon be able to walk into the motor vehicle agency and verify their identity with only a phone. The update lands in time for the new federal security rules that take effect on 7 May 2025. Travellers without a Real ID driving licence can present a passport pass stored in Wallet at airport checkpoints run by the Transportation Security Administration.
A digital ID will also soon help people regain access to locked Amazon accounts, sign in to online health portals run by CVS or MyChart, and seal a profile on Uber.
Last year Google started letting parents issue payment cards to children through Family Link. Putting that feature together with the new pass means a teenager could, in theory, pay for a cinema ticket and prove age at the kiosk with the same handset, without sharing anything about address or bank balance.
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Why Has Google Turned To Zero Knowledge Proof For Age Checks?
Most websites that sell adult goods or show mature content must confirm a visitor’s age. Traditional checks collect dates of birth and postcodes, leaving a trail of personal data. Google argues the burden should sit on the software, not the user.
Its answer is zero knowledge proof, a mathematical method that proves a fact while hiding every other detail. Wallet asks the phone to confirm a question, “Is this person at least eighteen?”, and then shares only “yes” or “no” with the requesting service. The merchant never sees the birthday, name or passport number.
Google says the technique works instantly on many different devices because it is built into the Digital Credential API. The firm will share the code on an open source licence so rivals can check the maths and adopt the same approach.
Dating platform Bumble has already agreed to use both Wallet IDs and zero knowledge proof. A new user will scan a passport once, store the pass, and let the phone vouch both for identity and for being over the required age.
